What a great time of the year... Monday nights at the Gin Mill, Tuesday nights at State Bar, Thursday nights at the Tin Caps and Columbia Street for the Battle of the Bands. Soon enough I will add spending the weekend at the lake but free time has been scarce lately (haha yeah I don't include 3 days of drink specials free time). You just can't beat summer time. Oh and you can't forget about what summertime brings out in the ladies... outfits that will have you buying them drinks until last call. Anywho, I did get a chance to get out and check out a band here in town that is bringing back the Rock & Roll that everyone can appreciate. Let me introduce you to The Wilderness.

First off I'd like to thank Richard for providing some of the best sound I've heard in any of the previous BOTBs. A job done very well. Now the guys in The Wilderness are all about their music and it shines clearly when they are on stage. It directly translates to their instruments. Steve's a young front man who looks like he just walked off of a beach on the west coast. His guitar licks are spot on and his lyrics really tell people what the band is all about. Les plays some great great great classic rock solo's and also adds in his take on the band. Now these 2 aren't just like a vocalist and backup vocalist. They are actually both kind of leads you could say in a sense. And both are great at what they do. Ben keeps the band moving with his precise drumming. I mean PRECISE. Write that down. Alex adds the right stuff at the right time on keys to set the music off. Dan holds the band together with some great basslines and probably the best bass face I've ever seen in my life. I was going to take a picture and put it up here but that would borderline make me a stalker.... Coming from the guy who finds local bands to go watch and write about... ahem.

Now all you would have to do is listen to these guys and you could pick their influences within the first 3 notes. The classics, the icons, the legends... I'm talking about The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Jeff Buckley to name a few. I got a soft spot for that kind of music. Across the Universe was the only "musical" I've ever let myself watch for more than about 8 seconds (I don't know what it is, but I can't stand them... but I watched this one so I guess you could say I'm adjusting...). "Hey Mr. Tambourine Man" changed the way I felt about classic rock and Eric Clapton is probably my favorite guitar player of all time. Like (using my drummer buddy for example) "Now listen, I haven't played drums in over a year." - "No excuses, you said you were the shit. Eric Clapton could put down a guitar for 10 years, pick it up, and still be Eric Clapton" - haha lookin at you Josh! Thank you for sitting down at that kit). The Wilderness band is great. They bring that spirit of what was good about Rock & Roll and how much people really enjoyed it and felt it back then. There are videos all over the place of hippies and flower people and the Beatles freaking movement with their eyes closed just swaying to the music. If these guys keep on they could definitely be doing the same.

Now Fort Wayne loves it's metal. No matter what anyone says, if it's not some form of blues (grunge blues, angry blues, etc..) or rip your face off metal, there isn't a whole lot else going on around here that people really pay attention to. I really hope people can find a place in their heart for these guys. They play good music, they write good music, they just are good music. And it's even music that PARDON-MY-FRENCH "the older crowd" can appreciate as well. I wish these guys the best in their musical endeavors. I'd really like to see this stuff make a come back. So once again, do me a favor.